Nothing More Than Feelings
by Mariel1
Summary: Experiment 432 has been activated, and Jumba is less than pleased to see her. She was designed to sense and exploit peoples' emotions as a form of blackmail, but all didn't go as Jumba had planned...
1. Part One

"Nothing More Than Feelings"

_Author's Note: I normally write about the Care Bears, and I have an entire series planned out. The trouble is, I seem to be suffering from Care Bear Burnout! Just for a change of pace, I've decided to write a Lilo & Stitch fanfic. My other series will continue soon, I just need a short break from it. Now for the disclaimer; I don't own Lilo & Stitch, or any of the original characters. Emma is mine._

"Give me the remote, trog!" bellowed Gantu, making a grab for 625. "I'm sick of watching the sandwich channel!"

"No way, barracuda butt!" 625 danced tauntingly out of reach, and hid the remote behind his back. "You had it all day yesterday, and if I have to watch just one more soap opera I'm gonna toss my cookies!" The pudgy yellow experiment batted his eyelashes and pleaded in a falsetto, "Oh Derrek, don't leave me, I looooove you! What'll I do? How will I raise the baby on my own?"

"Why _you!_" Gantu got up and began to chase him. "For _your_ information, 'As the Teardrops Fall' is a _very_ informative show about human courtship rituals!"

"Oh, yeah, and I'm sure killing off a character only to bring them back as a plot twist is something that happens every day, right?" 625 was cornered, but he wasn't worried. This sort of interaction was hardly something new, and the only thing he was in danger of was missing out on a new way to serve bologna.

**"Warning; Experiment 432 activated. Primary function; emotional exploitation"**

Gantu forgot about the remote, and read over the information that was provided. "Hmm...According to this, it was a complete failure. It was such an embarrassment to that idiot scientist that he immediately dehydrated it. Peh...If I bring something like _that_ to Hamsterviel, he'll fire me..."

"Oh, again?" smirked 625, folding his arms and tapping his little bicep with the remote. Gantu promptly snatched it from him, and settled his twenty-foot-tall self down in front of their large television. "Hey!"

"You snooze, you lose." chuckled Gantu, changing the channel. A half hour later, he gaped in disbelief. "What? They killed off Sophie? _Noooooooooo!_"

625 came in with a stack of sandwiches, and smirked as he patted Gantu's arm. "What're you bellyaching about? She'll be back."

"Blitznak..."

* * *

At first, she didn't know where she was. All she knew was that it was cold, and the last thing she remembered was being yelled at. And then...oblivion. She slowly uncurled, and she instinctively kept her mouth shut and refused to draw the breath she so desperately needed. There was a sensation of being pulled backwards, then gently pushed forwards, then being pulled backwards again. 

Experiment 432 opened her eyes, keeping her third eyelid, her nictating membrane, in place. Her body had already figured out what her mind had not. She was beneath the surface of an ocean, and she had to get out. She could see very well; the water was shallow, and looking through her third eyelid made it easy to focus, as if she was wearing a pair of goggles. Her belly scraped the sandy bottom of the ocean floor, and the burning in her chest reminded her that she needed to breathe. She could hold her breath for a long time, but only if there was air in her lungs to begin with. Undulating her body like a crocodile's, she swam smoothly to the surface and drew in a great, whooping breath.

"It's a sea monster!" yelled a little boy, and 432 felt a surge of fear and aggression coming from the child. "Kill it!"

"Get the monster!" cried another child, a girl.

432 registered their hostility in a millisecond, then did the most sensible thing she could think of. She raised the sail-like crest on her head and hissed warningly to stall them, then swam for all she was worth towards the sandy beach. As soon as her paws touched the scorching-hot sand, she skittered, lizard-like, into the bushes. She peeked out, and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the children explaining their encounter to their parents. They weren't chasing her, and they had made it out of the water all right. She could have easily fought them off, but it was their fear that had prompted them to want to attack her in the first place. She couldn't blame them for that. But now, where was she to go?

Her stomach growled, and she decided to try to find something to eat. She didn't smell anything that appealed to her, so she set out to hunt something up. She kept to the bushes, lying silently when she heard footsteps or voices, then continuing on when the coast was clear. She finally came upon a round green thing, lying beneath a tree. She sniffed it, and her senses told her that the seed inside was edible, but she would have to break through the husk. She scratched at it with her claws, she tried chewing on it, she even tried smashing it against a rock. It took her a good fifteen minutes to get to the seed, but it didn't look very appetizing to her. Still, she was desperately hungry now, and she didn't see how she had any choice. She raised the thing above her head, but before she could bring it down on her 'cutting rock', something pounced on her from behind.

"Cousin!"

432 dropped the coconut she had been trying to open, and rolled over and over with her attacker. All she could feel were her own emotions right then; fear for her life, and anger for the loss of her meal. She gave a low, pulsing growl, and twisted free. "I don't really want to fight, if you force me..." she trailed off.

"Stitch? What is it?"

432 crouched low, extending her thoughts outward to gauge the intentions of these two. One was an experiment; this she knew. The other was a child, though she wasn't sure what species. She certainly wasn't a resident of the planet Quelta Quan, like 432's creator!

She sensed nothing but curiosity and caution from these two, and she relaxed somewhat. "Why did you attack me?"

The blue, dog-like experiment shook his head. "Stitch naga attack. Stitch capture!"

432's crest raised, and she narrowed her eyes. "Capture for what purpose?"

The little girl put a hand on Stitch's shoulder and said, "I'm Lilo, and this is Stitch. We change experiments from bad to good, so that they can find their one true place."

432 was beginning to understand. "Ahh...So, you wish to 'capture' me because you're afraid I'll run off and cause some sort of trouble, right?"

"Yup." grinned Lilo.

"Ih!" Stitch spread his arms and began to advance towards the new experiment once more.

"Well, you needn't bother. I'll go with you, if that's what you want. But I'm not exactly evil..." she looked down sadly, as if she saw this as a bad thing.

"You will?" Lilo looked surprised.

432 nodded. "I might as well. You mean me no harm, and I have nowhere to go..."

Lilo and Stitch looked at each other in amazement, and Lilo said, "Well, that was easy...So, what can you do?"

The experiment sighed; she didn't want to talk about it, but she saw no way around it. "I am Experiment 432. I was created to sense and exploit the emotions of others, and to dig deeper to find the cause, making that exploitation possible. But because I feel these emotions as my own, I couldn't bring myself to exploit anyone. So...I'm a failure..." she looked down, and her crest and back fin flattened.

"Ohh..." Stitch patted her arm, looking sympathetic, and she smiled a little. She wasn't used to kindness, and she hadn't realized just how badly she needed it.

"Well, come home with us." Lilo suggested. "I'll talk Nani into letting you stay with us until we can find your one true place. Everybody has one, you just have to find it."

"Who's Nani?" asked 432.

"She's my sister. But first, we have to think of a name for you." replied Lilo, looking the experiment up and down.

432 was actually a rather pretty experiment. When she walked upright, she walked on the balls of her feet, rather than walking heel-toe like a human. Her main body color was a medium-light aqua. Her belly, as well as the coloring around her eyes, was a lighter aqua. She had a long, lizard-like tail that ended in a spade-shaped, light aqua fin. She also had a fin-like crest on her head, a fin on her back, and fins on her forearms. She had ears that looked a lot like Stitch's ears, except the right one appeared to have sustained some sort of damage. On the other hand, she could have just been formed that way. Her nose was light blue. She squirmed under Lilo's scrutiny, wishing she was someplace else.

Lilo wanted to find a name that had to do with her power, but what kind of name could come from the word 'emotion'? It had to be a girl's name, and it couldn't be too silly. "I know! We'll call you 'Emma'!"

432 cocked her head, and smiled. "Emma...I like the sound of that."

"Come on, we'll take you to meet our O'hana!" Lilo grabbed her paw, and Emma let herself be dragged along like a ragdoll. Stitch frowned a little, but seemed mollified when Emma gave him an apologetic look. She understood his jealousy, and her eyes made it clear that she had no intention of taking his place. Lilo yammered on, "It's nearly lunchtime anyway. Don't let Nani scare you. She has a temper, and she doesn't really like experiments in the house...except for Stitch...but she'll like _you_, I just know it."

"Uh-huh..." Emma nodded distractedly as they neared what had to be Lilo's house. "Lilo, can I have my hand back now? I can't feel my fingers."

The little girl obligingly let go, and jogged up the front steps.

* * *

It was Nani's day off, but that hardly meant she got to relax. With so many people living under one roof, she practically had to bend over backwards to keep the house clean, the mouths fed, the fighting to a minimum, and the fridge well stocked. Pleakley was the cleanest one, but even he sometimes left his things lying around. Jumba, in particular, was almost as messy as Lilo. He might be a genius, but in many ways he reminded her of a little kid. He never cleared his place at the table unless someone reminded him, he rarely did his own laundry, and he had a habit of stuffing inedible things into his mouth when he was angry. Nani wasn't sure if this was normal behavior for a man of his species, or if he was just possibly the _slightest_ bit insane. 

Jumba worried her sometimes. She doubted he was ever actually _evil_, but she sometimes wondered what made him want to be. Aside from Lilo, he seemed to be keeping everyone at arm's length on purpose, and Nani didn't know why. And most of the time, she didn't _care_ why. She had a job, a house to run, and a little sister to raise. In short, her plate was full. But that didn't mean she didn't care about _him_. He had saved Lilo more than once, and Nani trusted him to watch her while she was at work. He seemed to genuinely care about the little girl. But he remained a mystery. Nani had learned long ago to simply let him be.

Right now, Jumba was stretched out on the couch, tinkering with something Nani couldn't put a name to. The young woman lugged the vacuum cleaner over, and sighed. "Jumba, I need you to get up for a minute."

"Why?" he asked, not looking up from his work. He pronounced the 'w' like a 'v', like he did most of the time.

"I need to vacuum the couch cushions." she said.

"Am busy right now," he groused, "Please to be waiting for a few hours."

"A few _hours?_ Uh-uh, I'm busy too, you know! As hard as you guys make it, I have to keep this place clean, and I'm not exactly happy about having to spend my day off making sure it stays that way. Now, get your 'patookie' off my couch and park it somewhere else!" she waved the hose attachment in his face, and he batted it away and sat up.

"Fine! But larger girl should be thinking twice before interrupting evil genius while he's at work."

"It's not like you can't do that in your room, or on your ship, Jumba." she said cooly as she lifted up the cushions to look for any loose change before she began.

"Is looking like I'll _have_ to, now..." he grumbled as Lilo threw the door open.

"Jumba, we caught another one!" she yelled over the drone of the vacuum.

Emma blanched. '_Jumba? Oh, terrific..._'

"Well, actually, we didn't _catch_ her, she came on her own. Jumba, this is Emma!" she stood aside, and Emma hesitantly came in.

"Hello...Jumba." she raised a paw in a weak wave, feeling the rage begin to build in her creator as she stood before him. Someone else came into the room, someone who had three legs and a noodle-like body, but Emma ignored him.

"This one is not welcome, little girl. Send her away." he pointed to the door, and Emma looked down.

"But Jumba, she's O'hana." Lilo protested, "O'hana means - "

"**Are you being deaf? I said she goes, therefore she _goes!_**" he roared, and the room grew silent. Nani switched off the vacuum cleaner, and was staring at Jumba in disbelief as he went on, "**She is _not _being O'hana, and that is final word! I am putting foot down! The answer is _no!_**"

Lilo's lower lip trembled for a split second; he had never yelled at her before. Then she put on an expression that rivaled Jumba's. "You're not the boss of _me_, you...you big _dummy!_"

"Lilo..." Nani said warningly, not because she thought she should reprimand her, but because she was afraid of what Jumba might do. It was rare that any of them saw him in such a rage, and it had never been directed at Lilo before.

Jumba stared at Lilo for a long moment, breathing hard through his nostrils, then pushed her out of the way and headed for his ship. The push was surprisingly gentle, more like a nudge than anything else, and Nani sighed in relief.

Emma sat down where she was and hugged her knees to her chest, and Pleakley finally spoke.

"Lilo, are you - " he was cut off as Lilo ran for her rooftop dome, Stitch at her heels. "Oh dear...I'll go tell Jumba off for you, Nani, so you can get back to work."

"I have a better idea." Nani put down the vacuum hose, "You and...Emma...go see if Lilo's okay. _I'll_ go talk to Jumba."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" asked Pleakley.

Nani's voice took on a hard edge. "He has to learn that I won't have him talking to my sister like that. The way I'm feeling right now, he wouldn't dare lay a _finger _on me!" And with that, she swept out of the house, leaving Pleakley and the crestfallen experiment behind.

"Come on..." sighed Pleakley, "We better do as she says."

Emma nodded enthusiastically; this Nani was one formidable woman!

* * *

Nani pounded on the door to Jumba's spaceship before letting herself in, not waiting for him to tell her to leave. She found him ripping up a sheaf of blueprints and stuffing them into his mouth, a garbled roar coming from his throat. 

Placing her fists on her hips, Nani raised her voice to be heard over all the noise he was making. "You owe Lilo an apology!"

Jumba froze, then spat out a mouthful of paper pulp. "Leave me alone!"

"No, I _won't _leave you alone! I mean, how _dare_ you talk to my sister like that! You're living in _my_ house, for _free!_" she yelled, and he jumped quickly to his feet.

"For _free?_ I _built _that house, and was not getting a dime!" he shot back.

"Sure, after you blew up the first one!" she strode up to him, and stuck her finger in his face. "You don't do any of the work around here! Who cleans up after you? Me! Do you think I'm your maid, or something, you can just leave your dirty dishes anywhere you see fit? I do practically_ everything _around here, therefore _I'm_ in charge of what goes on in _my _house! And I'm telling you to apologize for what you said to Lilo!"

Jumba threw a screwdriver across the room, and began to pace like a caged lion. "So I lost temper, everyone does that!"

"You lost your temper with the wrong person, buddy!" snarled Nani, getting in front of him. "She's only a _little girl!_ Is that how you would talk to children on your home planet?"

Jumba suddenly snapped. "**No it's not, because I will never be getting the opportunity! And the failure experiment goes, or is to be deactivated!**"

Nani was still angry, but something was clearly bothering him, something that had to do with that new experiment. Forcing her voice to be level and calm, she asked, "Why did you react that way when she brought that new experiment into the house?"

Jumba turned to face her again. "Tell me..." he began quietly enough, but as he went on his voice gradually became louder and louder, "If someone could look into your head, and see most embarrassing moments, most dismal failures, would you be liking it? And suppose you created experiment for to be exploiter of emotions, and experiment exploited _yours_, but refused to be exploiting _other peoples'?** Would you like it?**_"

Nani was beginning to understand why Jumba wasn't happy to see this experiment, and she felt her anger beginning to diminish. She asked, "Is that what she did? Did she do that to you?"

"I design-ed 432 for to be blackmailing experiment, like Nosey, only she was _very_ dismal failure..." he told her, memories swimming to the surface, no matter how hard he willed them away. The time he wet his pants in school as a very small child, and how his father smacked him hard across the face when he heard about it; his wife telling him she hated him and wanted a divorce (not that he didn't want one as well); many, many memories he would rather forget. "She is just example of Jumba's many failures. But she is also reminder! You are thinking I _want_ little girl to know how evil genius fails at _everything he attempts?_"

Nani stared at him in disbelief. "Jumba, you don't fail at everything..."

"Peh...what do _you_ know? My experiments are either working too well and are beyond my control, or they are working not well enough. Always, they turn out differently from original plan. On planet Quelta Quan, Jumba was, how you say, miserable bum! Was doctor, scientist, yes...but was looked down upon like lowest life form all his life. I was being too different!" he rapped his chest with his palm, and the look he gave her was one of desperation and sorrow. "I don't want that _thing_ in my head for to play head-shrinker! I just want to be forgetting how people _laughed_, called me 'idiot scientist'! I became evil genius to make them _pay!_"

"Make who pay? For what?" asked Nani. When he didn't answer her, she said, "Everyone who ever hurt you?" He winced, and she nodded. "Yes, I said 'hurt'. I know they hurt you, Jumba, but if you _had_ been successful with your experiments, think about how many innocent lives would have been lost."

Jumba looked her in the eye, his four eyes and her two. "For a time, Jumba had stopped caring who he hurt...Would have hurt anyone, because anyone would have..." he trailed off; he was admitting too much.

"Is that why you keep everyone at arm's length? So we can't get too close and hurt you?" she asked softly.

"No!" he snapped. Then he sighed. "Maybe. And maybe evil genius is frustrated! I am living on planet with very primitive technology, and constantly being reminded of what a _failure_ I am being! Why try? Well, _why?_ You cannot answer..." he shook his head after a moment, "I don't want 432 to be inside my head, not now. Not ever. She will sense, she will _know_, Jumba can't even go home. Was exiled from home planet for illegal genetic experimentation, and can never be going back. _Never!_ Think of it. To not be around one's own kind. To live on backwater planet with broken family, and to be every bit as broken! Never to be a parent...Even if I wanted to, I am having no choice...And never to be cared about by own species, never again..."

Nani gasped softly as Jumba began to choke up.

"Even evil genius can be getting homesick..." he put a hand to his face and turned away, sniffing sharply. Nani might as well have been glued to the floor as she stood there and stared at his back. Jumba's shoulders slumped, then shook a few times. He reached out with his free hand as if feeling his way to a chair, and finally he found one. He sat down, and another sharp sniff pierced the air.

"Oh...Jumba..." Nani walked over, and began to pat him gently on the back. "I'm sorry. I had no idea..." Her only answer was another sniff, and she put her arm around his shoulders and simply stood with him while he sat and tried to regain control of himself.

"She will _know..._I can hide nothing...from 432..." he managed to say before he had to close his mouth to keep from breaking down completely.

"It'll be okay. I don't think she'll say anything." Nani said quietly.

Finally he gave a colossal snort to clear his sinuses, keeping his head turned so that she couldn't see his face, and rubbing his four eyes with his fists. Nani didn't have to be Experiment 432 to sense his embarrassment. She gave his shoulder a final, brisk pat, and said, "The others don't have to know about this. I won't tell them anything. But...I still think you should go and talk to Lilo."

Jumba nodded slowly and stood up, then surprised Nani by giving her a hug. Nani hugged back after a moment, and when she stepped back Jumba seemed tired, but calm. "Come. Apology is in order." he said, sounding much better now. Nani led the way, and they headed towards the house in silence.

It was Jumba who broke the silence. "What of 432?" he asked.

"Emma stays." Nani said firmly, "At least, until Lilo finds a place for her."

He sighed. "Thought so."

"I think...maybe...you should talk to Emma in private." she said, sounding hesitant now that they were on friendly terms once more.

"So she can probe Jumba's brain and learn about...what just happened?" he looked down. "She will find out everything, if she hasn't already...She will find that Jumba is outcast..."

"What if she does?" Nani stopped, and gripped his shoulders; she had to stand on tip-toe to do so. "She'll also find out that you have an O'hana now. O'hana means 'family'. Family means nobody gets left behind...or forgotten. Whether he likes it or not." she smirked, and was gratified to hear him laugh.

"Earth niece is making excellent point. Very well, I will apologize to Lilo..._And _to Emma.

_Author's Note: Depending on the type of response this gets (if any, lol), there might be a second, shorter part to this. This is my first Lilo & Stitch fic, so I hope nobody was out of character. I saw Jumba cry a couple times, in a movie and in an episode, so I figured it was possible for that scene to happen. And for those of you with overly active imaginations, this is _not _a Jumba/Nani romance. Hope you enjoyed it._


	2. Part Two

"Nothing More Than Feelings: Part 2"

_Author's Note: Kila belongs to HeMeleNoLiloLover, and I'm borrowing her with permission; you can find a description of Kila in her fanfics. I'm still a little fuzzy on her other characters, and anyway, Kila's my favorite. XD So I won't really be mentioning them. I don't own Lilo and Stitch, I only own Emma._

Lilo was seated on the top bunk of the bunk bed she shared with Stitch, her back to Pleakley and Emma, and she held Scrump on her lap. The homemade green doll was well loved, most of its stuffing forced into its head and legs from too many hugs, and Lilo was idly playing with the tuft of yellow yarn 'hair' that was on top of its head. Lilo wasn't crying; she was too angry. While some people just can't stop the tears from coming when they get angry, this wasn't the case with Lilo. The tears sometimes came later, when she had had some time to think about what had made her angry, and what was said, but not all the time. And she was determined that now wouldn't be one of those times where she succumbed to tears after the fact.

"He can't yell at me..." she said to herself, to Scrump, and to Stitch, who was sitting anxiously beside her. She was ignoring Pleakley and Emma. Pleakley was one of the dreaded _adults_, and Emma she hardly knew. Stitch was an adult, but with him it wasn't the same. Lilo set her doll aside, and hugged her knees. "He's not my dad...he can't tell me what to do..."

"Maybe...Jumba sorry?" Stitch suggested timidly.

Lilo didn't even look at him. "I don't care if he's sorry. He's not my dad."

"Lilo?" Pleakley tried again; so far, he hadn't been able to get her to respond. "Jumba was wrong to yell at you, but we all know he's a little crazy. I mean, come on...He'll eat anything that'll fit into that cave he calls a mouth, and his species doesn't even _need_ to eat. They normally absorb nutrients through their skin, which is probably why they only have six teeth, did you know that? It's _fascinating!_" he grinned, but his grin faded when Lilo only sighed.

Emma took an involuntary step backwards when Pleakley turned to her. On the way up, she had reluctantly told him what her function was, and a _somewhat_ abridged version of why Jumba wanted her out. She had a feeling she knew what was coming.

"Uh...Em? _May_ I call you 'Em'?" asked Pleakley, putting his three-fingered hands together as if he was getting ready to pray.

'_Yeah, I knew it. If he's sucking up to _me_, he must be desperate._' "I guess so..."

"Em, I need you to do me a really _huge_ favor." Pleakley said in a loud whisper, "It's very important, but if you don't want to I understand, but I hope you will - "

"Go ahead and ask your question." Emma said evenly. She found that being able to sense what people wanted, then having them beat around the bush for an hour while they tried to find the right approach made her impatient. "I'll listen, but I can't promise to agree."

"Could you _please_ try talking to Lilo? You might be able to get to the root of the problem and get her talking..." he said.

Emma sighed, and saw Lilo tense up. '_This is one stubborn child..._' She could already see that it would probably do more harm than good if she did this, since Lilo obviously had some experience with other different experiments, and was wary about having them use their abilities on her. Emma couldn't really blame her. She sighed, and shook her head. "I can't..."

"Why not?" shrilled Pleakley, causing Emma to lay her ears back and wince.

"Because she doesn't want me to." said Emma.

"That's the _point!_" Pleakley waved his arms, and Emma cut him off before he could launch into the hysterical tirade she could sense building.

"It _is_ the point, but not the way you think it is." she said as calmly as she could, "She knows what I can do, and she's steeled herself against it. She won't open up, no matter what I might find, and it would be an invasion of her privacy to do this."

"You can read minds, can't you? You can tell us how to proceed, at least!" the Plorginarian was becoming exasperated.

"I don't need to tell you how to proceed, because the problem is obvious. Jumba has tried to exert authority over her in a way that he shouldn't have, and he's hurt her feelings. This is really between her and Jumba, and it might be better if we simply left the room and let her and Stitch be alone for a while." she felt Lilo's eyes on her, but she ignored it. "Besides, I can't exactly read minds. At least, not deeply. If I try hard enough, I can access a thought someone is trying to hide, but...I hate it. I won't do it. It's more like...er...like I'm catching a ball someone's throwing at me, only it's a feeling, not a ball. I...can't really explain it any better than that."

"Then what good are you?" yelled Pleakley before he could stop himself. He looked appalled, but it was too late to take it back.

Emma didn't really look offended, and said quite truthfully (at least, from her point of view), "None at all. That's why I'm a failure."

"...Oh." Pleakley said lamely.

Emma shifted awkwardly, the combined feelings of the other three making her extremely uncomfortable. She felt a brief stab of anger at Jumba for sticking her with such a crappy function; if enough people were experiencing different types of intense feelings near her, she felt that it was liable to drive her insane. Why had he made her so that she could not only sense what others are feeling, but so that she could experience those same feelings as well? She sighed, and decided to extract herself from this particular situation. "Do you mind if I look around? I promise I won't make a mess." she said.

Pleakley blinked his eye, and wondered if she had read _his_ mind, but decided to just let it be. "Okay, but don't touch anything of Jumba's or we'll have a repeat of what happened earlier."

Emma's eyes twinkled with mild amusement. "Don't I know it!" And she turned and got on the platform that lowered her down to ground level. She stepped off, and nearly collided with Jumba. She looked up and froze, and in an instant her brain was hit with a barrage of images, voices, and emotions. In no real order, she 'saw' flashes of Jumba's argument with Nani, and she was actually dismayed when the last image was one of Jumba sitting in a chair with his head in his hands. At the same time, a wave of intense sorrow and loneliness washed over her, and it was all she could do to keep from bursting into tears herself. Then, just like that, it was over. She felt somewhat drained, and she wasn't sure if the embarrassment she felt was hers or Jumba's.

Jumba scratched the back of his head and stared at her worriedly as he waited to see what she would do.

Emma cleared her throat, and put on a calm expression. '_Ice-breaker time..._' she thought. Out loud, she said, "Do I have something in my teeth?" She pulled back her lips and showed a rather impressive set of pearly whites, and Jumba seemed taken aback.

"Er...no. 432, I...er...um...Oh, Blitznak..." he mumbled; he had never found it easy to apologize, and he was still a little angry.

Nani gave him a discreet nudge, making him grunt, but Emma didn't want a forced apology. She would be able to tell better than anyone if it wasn't completely genuine.

"It doesn't matter. But I think Lilo is upset." she said, then tried to slink off without giving him a chance to speak. She was too late.

"We shall speak later, 432." he said. It was not a request. Emma glanced over her shoulder at him, and nodded reluctantly before heading into the kitchen.

* * *

Lilo looked over as the whirring sound of the platform reached her ears, and saw Jumba and Nani fairly tumble into the room. They had both boarded the platform at the same time, and they had been packed as close as sardines on the way up. 

"Watch where you're putting your hands, mister!" Nani hissed, rubbing her backside.

Jumba blushed blue, and clasped his pudgy hands behind his back. "Apologies, but was accidental..."

"Better be..." she said.

Lilo turned away with a very dignified expression, and said, "Go away, Jumba."

Pleakley sighed, and approached them. "She won't talk to anyone but Stitch..." he lowered his voice, "You really did it, this time!"

Jumba resisted the urge to knock Pleakley aside, and said, "Please to be giving us few minutes."

"Grrr, Naga!" growled Stitch, extending his back spikes.

Nani said in a fake, sugary-sweet voice, "I know a certain blue genetic experiment who has a deep love for coconut cake..."

"Naga bootif...Gabba?" Stitch looked hopefully up at her.

"Of course, if he wants to have some for dessert, he'll come down with me and Pleakley. But I guess he doesn't..." she turned her back, smirking.

"Ih! Ih! Ih!" Stitch jumped up and down, and in a moment Lilo was left alone with Jumba.

"Traitor..." she grumbled to herself, turning her back on Jumba.

Jumba sighed, and almost cautiously he approached her. This wasn't going to be easy; he really _had_ screwed up this time. "Little girl?" he said quietly.

"Humph!" she crossed her arms, and refused to look at him.

"Lilo..." he heaved himself up onto the top bunk, which creaked alarmingly under his weight as he sat down. Lilo tumbled backwards against his hip, then scrambled away from him with a frown.

"Come to_ yell _at me some more?" she said in a low voice, still refusing to look at him.

"No...I came to apologize." he said, looking down at his folded hands.

"You're not my father...You can't tell me what to do." she told him, sounding a little shaky now. "You're not even my _real_ uncle. You're just an alien...you can't yell at me."

Jumba felt every statement like a stab in the heart, but he couldn't disagree. He sighed, slicking back the three hairs on top of his head, and waited for her to get it out of her system.

She didn't have much more to say, however. "I thought we were friends..."

Jumba didn't look at her. "We are..."

"Then why were you so _mean?_" demanded Lilo, finally beginning to cry a little.

The heck with dignity! There was no one there to see and spoil his reputation, and Jumba picked her up and put her on his knee. Lilo seemed to have forgotten that she was supposed to be mad at him, and she buried her face in his expansive middle.

"I don't often admit to this...but I was wrong..." said Jumba, holding her gently. He marveled at how tiny she was, compared to children of the same age from his species. She was little more than newborn-size to him. How could he have treated her like that? "Jumba is not being _anyone's _father. I don't always know how to interact with children. I made big mistake, and am _very_ sorry. You...forgive Not-Real-Uncle Jumba for being big stupidhead?" he asked, hoping to make her smile by using a childish Earth insult on himself.

Lilo gave a muffled 'uh-huh', and nodded without lifting her head.

"Telling you what, Jumba will make it up to you, eh? How about if I put Earth music player in hovercraft?" he suggested, forcing himself to sound upbeat. In truth, he felt lower than a slug's belly for making her cry. '_When did I get so soft?_' he thought ruefully.

"Maybe..." Lilo said as she considered it. She looked up, and saw that Jumba looked very sad indeed; now she felt guilty for the things _she_ had said, and she mumbled, "I'm sorry for calling you a big dummy..."

"Heh!" Jumba smiled. "I've been called worse, believe me! Let's go downstairs, eh?"

"Sure." she smiled back.

* * *

Meanwhile, Emma was skittering cautiously through the house on all fours, taking in the strange new sights and smells and wondering what she should examine first. She was cautious because she could smell that several other experiments also lived here, but she couldn't identify any of them aside from Stitch. She wasn't designed for fighting, and if any of them turned out to be hostile she would need plenty of time to escape. Right now, they didn't seem to be anywhere in the house. 

Emma peeked into the kitchen, and sniffed the air. "Oooooh..." she cooed, intrigued. She smelled food, and she remembered that she was hungry. She would have to ask for something to eat as soon as she saw Nani. It probably wouldn't have mattered if she helped herself to something, but she didn't want to chance it.

She crawled under the table and looked up, and she put a paw to her mouth and gasped when she saw that someone had scratched '_Meega Nala Kweesta_' into the underside of the table. Horror gave way to amusement, and she pressed both paws tightly over her mouth to silence a mischievous chuckle. A sound like radio static escaped her as she snickered. "_Someone_ around here has a dirty, dirty mind!" she said to herself, vaulting up onto one of the chairs, and peeking over the edge of the table. She traced the grain of the wood on the tabletop with one of her long, lizard-like claws, then got up on the table to get a better look at her surroundings. She spied a fruit bowl in the middle, and swallowed as her mouth began to water. She didn't know what those round red and orange things were, nor the funny green fruit that was sort of shaped like Pleakley's head, but they certainly looked good to her. She looked resolutely away, and gave a mighty leap that spanned the distance between the table and the refrigerator. She caught the edge of it with a grunt, then scrabbled up to the top of it.

There was no food up there, but she still saw something that held her interest. A large spider was weaving a web between the top of the fridge and the wall, and Emma settled down on her belly to watch. She sensed no chaotic emotions from this strange creature, only a businesslike resolution to complete its task. It was a nice change, and she rested her chin in her paws and watched in rapt silence as the creature went about its business. So intent was she on the spider that she didn't notice that someone else had entered the kitchen.

Kila yanked open the refrigerator door to look for something to eat, and Emma took fright and leapt down from the fridge with a thump, facing away from Kila. As soon as she hit the floor she did an about-face, raising her crest and back fin and hissing ferociously. Her eyes were narrowed to slits, and her ears were flat on her skull as if to protect them from injury. This was all out of reflex, and she did it without even thinking about it.

"Yiy!" Kila jumped back, dropping a container of leftover macaroni and cheese which, thankfully, only wobbled on the floor and didn't open.

Emma's heart was beating so fast that she could almost hear it, but she quickly realized that she wasn't under attack and became horribly embarrassed. Even as Kila's look of shock morphed into a death glare, Emma adopted a less threatening posture, and looked down. "I am _so_ sorry about that. You startled me..."

"'Ey! _I_ startled _you?_ It's _my_ house!" Kila shouted, embarrassed at being caught off guard, and angry that this stranger had made her drop her food. "What were you doingk on top of the fridge anyvay? You think you are a house cat?"

Emma slowly picked up the plastic container of food and held it out, sort of as a peace offering. "I'm sorry. I was just...curious, that's all. I've never seen a...did you call it a 'fridge'?"

Kila snatched the container, and said, "How stupid you must be, not to know what a 'fridge' is? Sheesh..."

"Well, I haven't exactly _been_ here very long." Emma said mildly, standing up on two legs and folding her arms in a gesture of insecurity. This one could be trouble if she got on her bad side...

"Jumba made a new one, huh?" Kila didn't look amused. "When Nani hears about dis, he's dead meat..."

"Oh, I'm not new." said Emma, "I was just reactivated today, that's all. Listen, I really am sorry for hissing at you...I'm just a little bit on edge, that's all. I'm not used to this place."

Kila looked at the container of macaroni, and sighed. As infuriating as it was to be caught by surprise, this experiment seemed honest enough. And she _did_ look a little disoriented. "Meh...forget it. I guess it's not _completely_ your fault. But you tell anyone about that, and you're dead."

"I won't." Emma agreed, smiling a little.

"Who are you, anyway?" asked Kila.

"Lilo calls me 'Emma', so I guess that's who I am now."

"What's your function?"

Emma shrugged, trying not to look uncomfortable. Jumba had known about her function all along, and when she had turned on him she saw what could happen. She wasn't used to the concept of having friends - she hardly knew the meaning of the word - but she didn't want people to hate her. "It...doesn't matter. I was a failure. I can't lift heavy things, can't spit acid, can't do much of anything...except for sunning myself, I like that." she smiled again. She was more like a reptile than a mammal, even though she had a very thin covering of downy fur, and the sun made her feel good. Of course, it wasn't the same sun that this planet revolved around, and she hadn't had much of an opportunity to sun herself before Jumba decided she was a lost cause and dehydrated her.

Kila narrowed her eyes. "You hiding sometink' from me?"

Emma shook her head. "My function is just so paltry that it doesn't even bear mentioning. I am...unremarkable." her stomach growled, and she blushed. "Ehehe...and hungry. Excuse me." she rubbed her tummy modestly.

Kila held her container of macaroni close, and shook her head. "Forget it, it's mine!"

"I don't want your food...um..." Emma didn't know her name.

"Kila." said Kila gruffly.

"Kila. Go ahead and eat, I won't try to take it." Emma made a shooing motion with her paws, and looked away sadly as her stomach growled louder, more insistently than before.

"Oh, for - " Kila huffed, and jerked a thumb at the fridge. "Just get sometink' and _eat_ already!"

Emma brightened. "Thanks!"

Kila shook her head and went to heat up her macaroni, satisfied that Emma wasn't going to bother her. Emma found a big hoagie near the back, and held it up.

"Does this belong to anyone?" she asked.

Kila glanced over, then went back to her meal. "Go ahead and eat it; it's Jumba's."

Emma calmly put the hoagie back where she found it, and broke a piece off of a half of a watermelon. She got herself a plate, having watched Kila, and sat down across from her to enjoy her meal.

Kila paid her no mind until she heard crunching sounds. She looked over, and rolled her eyes. "You're not supposed to eat the _rind_, you moron..."

Emma blushed, swallowed, and put the rest of it down on the plate. "Actually, it's not that bad...Seems a shame to waste it."

"Then eat it, I don't care." Kila shrugged, and refused to speak after that. Emma considered for a minute or two, then picked up the rind and began to gnaw on it once more. Kila didn't react at all, seemingly having decided that Emma was no more or less annoying than anyone else in the house.

Emma was feeling rather pleased with herself, until she heard voices approaching the kitchen. Jumba and Lilo were talking...about _her_.

"Ohh, so _that's_ why you didn't want her here..." Lilo was saying.

"Well, is most disconcerting to have someone be able to look into mind and tell you word for word about...oh, say, time when you dreamed you showed up at school in underpants!" replied Jumba, both of them chuckling as they entered the kitchen.

Emma was staring wide-eyed at her plate, then she hazarded a glance at Kila. The other experiment's expression had gone stony as she paused with a forkful of macaroni half-way to her open mouth. Emma sensed a keen feeling of betrayal radiating from her. Then, without looking at Emma, Kila slammed down her fork and left the kitchen almost at a run. '_So much for being friends..._' Emma thought to herself, suddenly feeling rather sick to her stomach. Kila hadn't exactly been the friendliest person she'd met (not that she had met very many), but at least she socialized with her. Now, Emma knew, she could kiss that goodbye.

"Thanks a lot, Jumba..." she mumbled, not intending for him to hear it, but he did.

"Wha?" he looked puzzled.

"...Nothing." Emma sighed, and jumped down from her chair. "I'm going outside..."

_Author's Note: There was some kind of bug on FFN that wouldn't allow reviews (I don't know if it was just a few people or everyone), but I got a few responses through email, all of them favorable. So I decided to continue, and wouldn't you know it, inspiration hit. There will be more to this, I'm just not sure how much. Be warned, future chapters will probably be a little on the 'angsty' side; Jumba really screwedup when he designed _this_ one! Personal crises and tense moments are likely to pop up later on. Hope you're enjoying this so far!_


	3. Part Three

"Nothing More Than Feelings: Part 3"

_Author's Note: Well, I saw Leroy and Stitch when it aired on the Disney Channel, and with the end credits was a full list of experiments. Experiment 432 is really named 'Tonic', and since I don't want to change Emma's name in some lame plot twist, I've decided that this is an AU fic. Makahi, Kohi, and any other non-canon experiments who aren't Emma belong to HeMeleNoLiloLover._

Emma did indeed go outside. Before Jumba or Lilo could stop her, she had slipped out the back door and into the back yard. She didn't want to talk to Jumba, or anyone else, but she wasn't sure if it would be smart to stray too far from the house. Heck, she wasn't even sure which _planet_ she was on! It wasn't as if Jumba had ever tried to teach her anything of any value, and all she knew was what she was programmed to know. She could speak Turian very well and she was fluent in English, but she knew nothing about the planets those languages came from. She made a quick survey of the yard, and hid in a clump of ferns to collect her thoughts. Her mind wandered, and she found herself thinking back on her creation and what had led to her dehydration...

_Flashback_

_It was like being thrust out into the cold after drifting in a limbo of warmth and comfort for an indeterminate amount of time. Experiments obviously did not come into being the natural way, and the only womb they existed in was a mechanical one; the time they spent in that place normally spanned only a few hours as their accelerated growth programs took effect. After that, the nutritional fluid was drained from the capsule, and the experiment would remain coiled in a ball on the 'floor' of its confinement, neither alive nor dead. Mentally she objected to the cold, but physically she could do nothing but lie there, helpless. She didn't breathe and she had no pulse, but somehow she was aware. She couldn't even cry out in pain when she was suddenly bombarded with a high level of electricity. Her heart stuttered twice, then began to pump at a somewhat regular rhythm as it got used to beating. She could hear someone laughing, but it sounded like it was coming from far away. She drew in a deep breath, and let it out in a relieved sigh as the pain stopped._

_"Have I done it?" someone said._

_The experiment slowly uncoiled, flexed her tail, and yawned before staring fixedly at the face of her creator._

_Anticipation. Greed. An odd sort of tenderness. She blinked slowly as she realized that these were not her _own_ emotions she was experiencing. In her mind she saw a lizard-like experiment with a rather cruel look on her face, and she instinctively knew that she was seeing herself. Or, rather, her creator's idea of what she would be like. "I...I am...to be used?" she asked hesitantly._

_The large creature with two large eyes and two small eyes raised his fists in triumph. "YES! She is _exactly_ as I had planned for her to be!"_

_The experiment was not reassured. There was something about the glint in his eye that she didn't like, and she knew that he had something planned for her. She also knew that he was sure to tell her, so she kept silent and waited to see what he would do._

_When he was finished gloating, the man looked down at her and said slowly, as if talking to a child, "You are Experiment 432. I am Jumba Jookiba, your creator, and you are owing your existence to me. Your primary function is being 'emotional exploitation'. Do you understand?"_

_Silence. Then, "Yes..."_

_"Good!" Jumba rubbed his hands together and turned away, grinning. He did something she couldn't see, and once more she was hit with an energy source. It was warm, but it wasn't painful this time._

_"What are you doing to me?" she asked._

_"Am charging your molecules." he said, "Is very important, otherwise there is distinct possibility that you will be suffering fatal malfunction. We don't want that, now, do we?"_

_When Jumba was finished with that, he let her out of her capsule and placed her in a room that was mostly comprised of windows. Jumba's lab was on a large asteroid, and at the moment it was turned so that sunlight was able to reach the building. The experiment gave a joyful squeal when she saw a bowl of strange fruits, and dug in with gusto; her first meal. She was feeling more energetic by the minute, and she realized that standing in the sunlight heated her blood. She raised her face to the sun and closed her eyes, sighing blissfully. There she was kept for almost a week to build up her strength, and she was pretty much left to her own devices._

_It was over all too soon. Jumba interrupted her calm existence and brought her to a room. There, sitting on a cot, was another native of the planet Quelta Quan. This one was a female, and she was glaring balefully at Jumba._

_"What is being this nonsense?" she demanded._

_Jumba resisted the urge to roll his eyes, and didn't bother to answer her. He looked down at his newest experiment, and said, "Read her thoughts."_

_432 nodded, ignoring the woman's angry words that were directed at Jumba, and concentrated. It was hard to penetrate the miasma of rage and disgust that boiled on the surface of the woman's psyche, especially since the little experiment found herself fighting the sudden urge to turn around and take a chunk out of Jumba's leg, but eventually she managed it. _

_The images that came to her were confusing at best; childhood tantrums, first love, loss of first love, favorite teachers as well as hated ones. A Queltese wedding, to **Jumba**, of all people! Love turning to impatience, then to hate when he proved to be a distant husband, locking himself away for hours to 'waste his time and her money' on 'stupid scientific projects'. Then, finally, her demanding a divorce._

_Wow._

_432 blinked, and slowly looked up at Jumba for instructions on what to do next. She was rather shaken by what she had seen and felt, and she only knew one thing for sure. She never wanted to go through that again!_

_"What are you looking at me for?" asked Jumba, pointing to the woman who could only be his ex-wife. "Tell her what you saw."_

_432 went wide-eyed, and so did the woman._

_"Tell me what?" she demanded._

_432 stared off into space for a time, then shook her head. "No..."_

_Jumba picked her up by the tail, and dangled her upside-down in front of his face. "NO?"_

_"I don't want to..." 432 told him shakily._

_"Wanting is not issue here! You will do as I tell you to do!" Jumba roared. "I created you for a purpose, and you will be _fulfilling_ that purpose!"_

_His anger washed over her like a shower of scalding water, and her head began to throb as the woman became uneasy. Too many feelings..._

_The rage was stronger than anything else, and 432 decided that Jumba needed a lesson. She would give him a taste of what he had planned for his ex-wife. Her face became blank as she searched his mind, and she noted that her headache got much worse as she exerted herself more strongly._

_After a long silence, Jumba turned 432 upright and set her down on the floor. "Well? What is being holdup?"_

_"I have a question." said the experiment. When Jumba grunted, she asked, "Are you happy?"_

_"Wha', me?" he looked confused._

_"Yes."_

_Jumba scratched the back of his head, and shrugged. "Why would I not be?"_

_"Well, the fact that you're so isolated. And your father." 432 said._

_Jumba quickly picked her up, and turned to his ex-wife. "Leave! Tell no one about this!"_

_The woman got to her feet and snorted. "Nothing has changed. You still are wasting my time." she said coldly, walking out of the room with her nose in the air._

_432's teeth rattled in her head as Jumba shook her. "When I created you to be looking into minds, I did not intend for you to look into **my** mind!"_

_When he stopped shaking her, she went on as if she had never stopped speaking. "Your father. He was a cruel man, and he treated you harshly. He told you that no one would want to be your friend if you kept on with your little...experiments. Mixing chemicals, making models, and so on."_

_"Shut up!"_

_"No! This is what you made me for! This is what you wanted!" she shouted._

_"**Not on me!**"_

_If she could separate her own feelings from his, she wouldn't have gone on. All she knew was rage, and she didn't even realize that it wasn't her _own_ rage at this point. "Your mother died of an incurable illness, prompting your wish to become a doctor of both science and medicine. Your father remarried soon after, and you were ignored after that."_

_Jumba's heart was beating faster, and he was shaking. He felt like he couldn't get enough air. The experiment reacted similarly, and this frightened both of them. Jumba shook his head violently, and yelled, "**Shut up!**"_

_"You...still face...constant solitude, whether or not you want it...And a part of you doesn't. You...you just don't know how to accept kindness." 432's voice became quiet as the rage merged with shame and grief, and she finally had a horrifying realization of what she had done._

_"**Stop it, stop it, STOP!**" he dropped her, covering his ears._

_The experiment curled up in a corner, shaking in distress, and Jumba continued, "I created you for to be emotional exploiter, and you are having the _gall_ to use this on _me_?"_

_"I...I just wanted you to understand what it is you want me to do..." she whispered. "I didn't mean...I'm sorry..."_

_Jumba still didn't realize that 432 wasn't merely able to use a person's emotions to get at sensitive information; she was also able to feel these emotions as if they were her own, giving her a much deeper understanding of things than he had meant for her to have. He thought she was being willful and disobedient, but she just couldn't help it. What he saw as an unwarranted personal attack was really anything but. She could no more avoid feeling other people's emotions than she could avoid breathing. It was literally a part of her makeup._

_"Sorry? Yes...you _are_ sorry. A sorry waste of genetic material! A failure!" he yelled, his pain coming out as anger. "And disobedient failures are doomed to being dehydrated!"_

_Back to the Present_

Emma, a wiser (though not by much) Experiment 432, sat up and forced herself to push those thoughts from her head. She still harbored some anger for Jumba, but she couldn't bring herself to hate the man. He was...different, somehow. Something had changed him, mellowed him. What he had done to his wife, and what his wife had done to him, was in the past and none of her business. Emma had felt his anger when he was yelling at the child, but she knew that his anger wasn't directed at Lilo. And, most surprisingly, she sensed that he loved that little girl like a daughter. How much time had passed since she was dehydrated? Jumba didn't look much older, but his species aged so slowly it was hard to tell.

"432!" Jumba was calling from nearby. "Come out, I am needing to speak with you."

Emma didn't answer.

"_432!_" Jumba yelled, beginning to sound angry. Jumba was either very tolerant or very quick to anger, depending on the circumstances. Emma surmised that being ignored was enough to heat his temper, and she had seen enough of it for one day.

"My name," she said calmly, still sitting in the ferns, "is Emma."

"Larger girl is wanting me to talk to you." Jumba said stiffly, sweeping aside the curtain of leaves with his foot and squashing them flat, revealing his missing creation.

Emma stared quietly up at him, taking in the way he scowled and how uncomfortable he was. His body language alone told her that he would rather slam his fingers in a sliding glass door than speak with her. "There's nothing to talk about."

"Well, what do you want me to say to her?" he demanded. He had to be talking about Nani. "She is able to be spotting lies by way of eye contact. And Jumba is having more than enough eyes to incriminate..."

"What do you want me to say?" she asked, genuinely at a loss.

"Eh..." Jumba frowned and scratched his nose as he tried to think of something.

"It doesn't matter." she told him, turning her back. "I'm leaving."

Jumba was much quicker than he looked, and he had her in his grasp before she could react. He held her up in front of his face by her back fin. "Actually, you are not."

"Ow! That hurts!" She swiped at him with her claws, but missed him entirely. "Oh. That's why you picked me up this way..." she grumbled.

"Yes, and 432 cannot be _biting_ either." he said, and she bared her teeth briefly. "Now...You are remembering day when Jumba dehydrated you?"

"I'm not interested in reminiscing." she told him, looking away. '_Please, just let me go..._'

Jumba ignored this, but transferred her to his other hand, holding her by the back of the neck this time. This wasn't painful at all, and her unhappy demeanor lessened somewhat. "No, but things are needing to be said anyhow. I was wr..." he scrunched up his face a little, and tried again. "I was wr...I was _wrrr_...Not right."

Emma wanted to stay angry, but since she could detect a lie better than Nani _ever_ could, she knew he was telling the truth. Her anger melted away. "Thank you. And I was 'not right' too. I meant what I said, back then. I am sorry."

Jumba shifted uncomfortably, and said, "Little girl is wanting you to stay. Stay out of Evil Genius noggin, and I won't bother you."

Emma nodded. "That's fair enough." she said, keeping it to herself that she never wanted to explore his thoughts again. "Put me down, then. I won't run."

Jumba put her down, and went back inside without another word. Emma watched him go, then looked at the crushed ferns. The ferns that served as her hiding place were now as flat as leaves pressed in a scrapbook, so she got to her feet and went out to lie in the sun.

She was pleasantly warm and almost asleep when she felt someone shaking her. "What? Lilo...What's up?"

"We're watching a movie, you wanna join us?" asked Lilo.

Emma cocked her head and looked confused. "What is a movie?"

"Uh, well, it's pictures that, uh, move..." Lilo giggled weakly and shrugged. "C'mon, I'll show ya. Stitch got to pick."

"Oh?" Emma looked at Stitch.

"Ih! '_The Goonies_'!" he replied, then tried unsuccessfully to deepen his voice. "'Hey you guyyyyyyyyyys!'"

"Ummmmm...Okay?" Emma stepped slowly away from him, unsure what to make of his behavior. Lilo put a hand on her shoulder and led her back into the house.

"It's just the cut version they show on the Disney Channel sometimes; Nani doesn't let me watch movies with bad stuff in it, so she recorded it last time it was on. It's about these kids who find a treasure map in the attic, and they end up getting chased by bad guys who want the treasure too. It's pretty cool." said Lilo.

Emma nodded automatically, but she had no idea what they were talking about. As she came inside, she saw Kila look up at her, then turn away. Emma took a seat on the floor near the other end of the couch, and hugged her knees to her chest as she watched.

"Hey Kila," said Makahi, "You think we can get Jumba to do the 'Truffle Shuffle'?"

Pleakley picked up a handful of popcorn, and stuffed it into Makahi's mouth. "That's enough out of _you_, you!" he said primly.

Emma, who had been trying to follow the plot of the movie, peeled her eyes away from the television and looked over to see what they were arguing about. Pleakley saw her looking at him, and quickly sat back. "What's the matter?" she asked.

"Nothing, nothing at all." answered Pleakley, "Nothing whatsoever on _my_ mind, no sir! Nothing to read up here." he tapped the side of his head, then blurted out, "Stop _looking_ at me!"

Emma whipped her gaze away from him, startled, and mumbled an apology. She heard crunching sounds as the others shared a huge bowl of popcorn, and her stomach began to growl. Apparently, watermelon didn't stay with you very long. She stood up and shyly took a handful of popcorn, asking, "What's this stuff?"

Scorn and annoyance from Jumba and Kila. Emma felt herself beginning to blush, embarrassed that she didn't know as much about her surroundings as they did.

"It's popcorn." said Lilo. "Try it, you'll like it."

Emma tasted it, and found that she did. She couldn't properly enjoy the movie, however, because she sensed that Kila was paying more attention to her than to the television. Emma forced herself not to look away from the screen, but Kila's suspicion was beginning to upset her. Not only that, but she envied the way everyone interacted with each other. She could never be a part of that, simply because she had seen how people reacted to her when they realized what she could do. She got up and walked out of the room, feeling even worse when she felt relief coming from Kila. '_They'll never trust me, and I don't blame them..._'

When the movie was over, Lilo suggested that they go into town and see if they could find Emma's one true place.

"Is a waste of time, little girl." said Jumba, "432 is flawed creation, whose 'one true place' is in dehydration unit."

Kila shot him an annoyed look, remembering how he had treated her when she proved to be a disappointment and almost got dehydrated herself. Even so...Seeing how Emma seemed to look _through_ people, rather than _at_ them, she wasn't sure she disagreed.

Lilo hid a smirk, and gave a dramatic sigh. "Oh well...I guess she'll just have to _move in with us..._"

Jumba turned a funny color, and moved to the head of the group. "Daylight is burning! Let's go!"

'_If his last name was Subtle, his first name would be Not..._' thought Emma as she brought up the rear. She let her mind wander as she followed them, her eyes on the ground in front of her, and she accidentally bumped into Kila's back when the other experiment stopped at a crosswalk. "Oof!"

"Watch it, you!" snapped Kila, "You are vanting to end up as street pizza?"

"No, sorry..." mumbled Emma, rubbing the back of her neck and looking embarrassed.

"Stupid..." Kila walked forward when the 'Walk' signal appeared, and Emma followed. "Vhat, you must walk near me? Go walk with Makahi!"

"I'm sorry." said Emma.

"I'm walking with Kohi!" protested Makahi.

"Look, I'll just walk way behind everyone, how's that?" asked Emma, exasperated.

"Don't fall behind, Emma." giggled Lilo, "Come on!"

Emma stayed still for as long as it takes a person to count to ten, then followed. She was feeling worse and worse, her head throbbing and her heartbeat steadily increasing. They were surrounded by dozens of people, each of those people experiencing different emotions, and each of those emotions was bombarding Emma's sensitive brain. Soon little snippets of thoughts began to filter through, in spite of her efforts to hold them at bay.

'_Why won't my parents let me rent this? It's not fair!'_

_'I love him so much...'_

_'I wonder what's for dinner...'_

_'Gaaah, where's the bathroom?'_

_' 'I am the very model of a modern major general, I've information vegetable, animal and -' '_

_'Road hog!'_

_'I hope I don't look fat in this...'_

_'Creepy little mind-reading lizard...'_ from Kila.

Emma clutched her head and groaned softly. She barely heard Lilo ask her if she was okay, and she managed to nod. They continued on, and the thoughts were coming faster and faster.

_'...the coolest game ever...(static)...that dumbass...(static, static)...'London Bridge is falling down'...wearing my outfit...(static)...wow, I love Stephen King...'falling down, falling down, falling, falling, falling'...(static)...gonna have to finish it in study hall...does that guy have four eyes?...I wish I had her hair...I wish I had his car...(static)...I wish...I wish...I wish...'my fair lady'...'_

Emma suddenly grabbed her head and fell to her knees with a blood-curdling scream. "**Get out of my head!**" she wailed, drawing many a startled look. Kila went wide-eyed, and took several slow steps backwards. Jumba looked startled as well, for he didn't know just what was wrong with Emma. He had created her to _sense_ emotions, not _feel_ them, and he didn't realize that she had gone into a sort of mental overload because of it. What he _did_ know was that something was definitely wrong with her, and it wasn't just that she was willful. He took a concerned step forward, but that's all he did. He was at a loss.

Lilo was at her side in a moment, gently shaking her. "Emma! Emma, what's wrong?"

"I..." Emma looked up. "I have to get away from here..."

Stitch tugged on Lilo's arm, and said, "We...go...home now."

Emma almost laughed bitterly. Home? What was that? Besides, as much as she wanted to, she couldn't move. She gasped slightly as she felt herself being lifted into the air, and she looked up to find herself in Jumba's arms. She was too 'out there' to protest, and she made no sound as he carried her one-armed to his chest like a bowling ball.

"One true place finding will wait another day." he said.


End file.
